There was some interesting news that broke on May 22 that featured former San Francisco Giants player Darin Ruf.
According to the Associated Press, Ruf is suing the Cincinnati Reds for negligence when it came to failing to maintain safe field conditions, specifically citing the presence of the unpadded metal tarp roller that caused his career-ending injury in 2023.
At the time, Ruf was playing for the Milwaukee Brewers after he signed a deal with them in-season.
On June 2, 2023, he ran to catch a ball from his first base position in the third inning of the game between the Brewers and Reds when he collided with the tarp roller.
He suffered a knee laceration and was later diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture of his patella.
Ruf was moved to the 60-day injured list a result and missed the rest of the season, never playing another game of Major League Baseball again.
“This didn’t need to happen,” Ruf said in a statement to the Associated Press. “I wish it didn’t happen. Players shouldn’t have to worry about hidden hazards like that on a major league field.”
His complaint says he suffered “permanent and substantial deformities to his knee” and is seeking damages for that, stating the end of the tarp roller had no protective cushioning to shield from the sharp metal.
The lawsuit was filed in the Hamilton County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas.
At the time of writing, there was no detail about what Ruf is searching for outside of punitive and compensatory damages.
Ruf played parts of four seasons with the Giants, first coming to San Francisco in 2020 on a minor league deal after spending 2017-19 playing for the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization.
His best season in Major League Baseball came with the Giants in 2021 when he slashed .271/.385/.519 with career-highs in home runs (16) and OPS+ (143) across his 117 games.
He followed that up with a good showing in 2022, but he was shipped to the New York Mets ahead of the trade deadline in a package that returned J.D. Davis, Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack and Thomas Szapucki.
Ruf’s second stint in San Francisco came in 2023 when he signed a minor league deal in the midst of the campaign. But after nine games, he elected to become a free agent instead of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Sacramento after he went unclaimed on waivers following being designated for assignment.
All in all, Ruf spent nine years in the Majors where he slashed .239/.329/.427 with 67 career homers, 69 doubles and 205 RBI.
